a houston cast to love

Meet the cast of young Houston singles ready to mingle in Netflix's Love is Blind Season 5

It's time now to play one of reality TV fans' favorite games: "Heeeeyyy, I know her!"

Netflix has finally revealed the Houston cast of its smash dating show, Love is Blind — Season 5, and the group of 30 young, attractive singles look and sound totally H-Town — and are sure to be recognized by locals.

Fans can catch the Season 5 premiere — and the 30 locals — on Friday, September 22. As CultureMap previously reported, Season 5 of Love is Blind takes place primarily in Houston, mostly "in the city's urban core" with "city-centric experiences," Holly Clapham Rosenow, chief marketing officer at Houston First, told us exclusively. That means these singles should feel quite at home.

A 100-percent H-Town cast

Netflix revealed the cast via the Love is Blind Instagram page with quick interviews with cast members. At first glance, the 15 men and 15 women come off casual, down-to-earth, funny, and quite photogenic — in short, totally Houston.

Love is Blind Season 5 Estefania Estefania, a teacher and dancer, is "pretty perfect" (she's kidding).Photo by Monty Brinton/Netflix

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Here are the 30 Houston singles who are ready to mingle in Season 5:

Aaliyah - 29, ICU Travel Nurse
Carter - 30, Construction
Chris - 28, Project Manager for Commercial and Retail Development
Connor - 31, Geoscientist
Efrain - 27, Software Sales
Enoch - 27, Financial Advisor
Erica - 27, Marketing Manager
Ernesto - 32, Supply Chain Manager, Oil and Gas
Estefania - 30, Teacher/Dancer
Izzy - 31, Sales
Jared “JP” - 32, Firefighter
Jarred - 34, University Director
Johnie - 32, Lawyer
Josh - 32, Sales Rep
Justice - 28, Personal Trainer
Linda - 32, Talent Acquisition Recruiter
Lydia - 32, Geologist
Maris - 30, HR Specialist
Mayra - 25, Minister
Milton - 25, Petroleum Engineer
Miriam - 32, Scientist
Paige - 32, Stylist
Renee - 32, Veterinarian
Robert - 30, Special Education Teacher
Shondra - 32, Flight Attendant
Stacy - 34, Director of Operations
Taylor - 26, Teacher
Uche - 34, Lawyer / Entrepreneur

Their bios and occupations are a cross section of Houston's myriad industries and reflect the massive young professional talent here: many are scientists, geologists, veterinarians, lawyers, financial advisors, marketing professionals, nurses, and of course, oil and gas professionals and engineers.

Love is Blind Season 5 Connor NBD, geoscientist Connor says he's directionally challenged. Photo by Monty Brinton/Netflix

Pool guys or mailmen wanted

"I'm still single because I have a mouth on me and I don't apologize about it," — Maris, 30, a human resources specialist, shares during the interviews (aren't HR types supposed to be pretty diplomatic?). Regarding her single status, Aaliyah, 29, an ICU travel nurse, directs the question to her folks: "My parents would just say, 'You need to sit your ass down somewhere so you could actually fall in love with somebody."

We're not saying 32-year-old veterinarian Renee is desperate, but she did note that she "...could date the mailman or the pool guy — or I gotta get out of the house." (Note to mailman and pool guy, step your game up: she's on TV now.)

Looks like we can expect these kinds of interesting revelations during the 10-episode run from September 22 through October 13.

For the uninitiated, Love is Blind is a romantic social experiment hosted by celeb couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey. Singles meet, court, and get to know each other — before see what the other looks like. (A concept not unfamiliar to generations of Indian couples.) The "blind" aspect of the show finds the interested men and women dating each other in small "pods" (rooms) where they chat and flirt solely through a speaker.

Adding to the intrigue and suspense: couples get engaged before they see each other and can only gaze upon each other after an accepted marriage proposal. If things go smoothly, couples live together for a month, plan the wedding, meet each others' friends and family, and eventually wed if both agree at the altar — always with varied results. Heck, who're we kidding: things can blow up spectacularly.

Belching, No. 2, and getting handsy

We can't wait to be charmed by these 30 local charmers. Consider 32-year-old flight attendant Shondra: when asked what a partner would find annoying about her, she says she uses her hands to express herself — "it's just what I do." (Hey, how else are you supposed to point to the emergency exits."

Love is Blind Season 5 Taylor Taylor, a teacher, has a really ...'unique' bathroom habit. Photo by Monty Brinton/Netflix

Stacy, 34, a director of operations, may annoy a partner with the fact that she burps "a lot" — but not a bro who takes pride in a beer-and-burger-induced blast. Stacy will occasionally drop a "truck driver belch."

Connor, 31, a geoscientist, claims to be "directionally challenged" — ironic, as he sort of locates things for a living. (Hey, that's what Waze is for, right, Connor?)

And how considerate is sweet Taylor, 26? The young single teacher shares her bathroom etiquette — noteworthy for anyone hosting her at their house: "I go No. 2 with the hair dryer on." (So Taylor, not to get too personal, but do you bring the hair dryer with you?)

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Love is Blind — Season 5 premieres Friday, September 22 on Netflix.

Photo by Monty Brinton/Netflix

Memo to potential partners: Stacy, a director of operations, can belch like a trucker.

Movie Review

Offbeat drama Pillion features command performance by Alexander Skarsgård

Photo courtesy of A24

Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling in Pillion.

Describing the new movie Pillion is almost an act of futility. It contains a variety of seemingly disparate parts that coalesce into a whole to make it utterly fascinating. Few other recent films have been able to walk the line between filthy and wholesome in quite the way this one does, and that’s only because few other filmmakers would actually dare to try.

It centers on Colin (Harry Melling), a meek man in his mid-thirties who still lives at home with his parents, Pete (Douglas Hodge) and Peggy (Lesley Sharp), while working a dead-end job giving out parking tickets. While performing in a barbershop quartet at his local pub, Colin catches the eye of biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who summons him for a clandestine hook-up the following day (which just so happens to be Christmas Day).

With barely a word exchanged between them, Ray establishes a dominance over Colin that quickly leads to them starting a relationship in which Colin does anything Ray asks. And that means more than just sex: Colin, whether desperate for any kind of affection or unlocking a side of himself he hadn’t known, readily agrees to cook, clean, shop, and basically do whatever else Ray wants him to do.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Harry Lighton, the film is astonishing in the way it’s able to mine humor from Colin and Ray’s atypical bond. To call Ray “unfeeling” might not be totally accurate, but the way he treats Colin borders on cruel. However, the way Lighton structures the film, it’s easy to understand why someone like Colin would be willing to go along with the situation. It’s both hilarious and heartbreaking to see Colin debase himself in a variety of ways.

On the flip side is Colin’s heartfelt arc with his parents. It’s established right away that Peggy, who is sick with cancer, is a bit too involved with Colin’s love life, with the opening scene featuring her setting him up on a blind date. But their easy acceptance of his queerness and desire to see him find love is as heartwarming as it gets. The juxtaposition between the wholesomeness of their family and Colin’s new life is also the source of a good amount of comedy.

Lighton does not shy away from the sexual side of Colin and Ray’s relationship, and the scenes he depicts are as graphic as you are likely to see in an R-rated film. Some go up to and a little past what might be expected in a mainstream movie (including the use of a certain fake appendage). Other times they play out in a comical way to illustrate just how far Colin has progressed from the person he was when the film started.

Skarsgård, who stole the show in the Charli XCX movie The Moment, is the attraction in more ways than one in this film. The part calls for someone who’s not only impossibly handsome, but also a person who can stop dissent with just a glance, and he lives up to both qualities equally well. Melling, best known for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies, also embodies his role perfectly. He plays Colin as weak enough to be run roughshod over by Ray, but not so hopeless as to not be worth rooting for.

Pillion (which is the name of the secondary seat on a motorcycle on which Colin rides multiple times in the film) operates at a storytelling level that is difficult to achieve. Many people will not fully understand the film’s central relationship, but the way it is showcased by Lighton makes it compelling, gut-wrenching, and sexy.

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Pillion is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Offbeat drama Pillion features command performance by Alexander Skarsgård